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Developmental Psychology
Study of how people grow and change throughout their lifespan.
Teratogens
Potential harmful agents that can produce birth defects or abnormalities
Usually only causes damage if it occurs during a critical period during prenatal development
Factors: Maternal illness, genetic mutations, hormonal factors, environmental factors
Down Syndrome
Caused by an extra chromosome, has a positive correlation with mothers age and likelihood of having a child with down syndrome
Fine and gross motor coordination
Physical and Psychological milestones that define infancy and childhood
Fine Motor skills
ability to use small muscles in hands, wrists and fingers to coordinate movements ex. eating writing and getting dressed
Gross motor skills
ability to use large muscles to crawl walk and throw
Imprinting
a psychological phenomenon where a young animal forms an attachment to the first moving object it sees, often a parent.
Rooting reflex
When corner of babys mouth is touched or stroked infant will turn their head and open their mouth
Menarche
Occurs during adolescence, females first menstruation, marking the onset of fertility
Spermarche
Occurs during adolescence, mens first ejaculation, marking the onset of fertility.
Puberty
The period of physical and hormonal changes in adolescents, leading to sexual maturity and the development of secondary sexual characteristics.
Primary sex characteristics
Sex organs involved in reproduction
Men: Sperm production
Women: Ovulation and menstruation
Secondary Sex Characteristics
Sexual characteristics that develop during puberty but aren’t directly involved in reproduction
Men: broad shoulders, lower voice, growth of facial hair and pubic hair
Women: Ovulation and menstruation, Development of breasts hips
Adulthood
decreased lens elasticity, leading to vision loss
more difficulty to hear higher frequency sounds
crystalized intelligence increases and fluid intelligence decreases
reaction time decreased because of decreased muscle mass
slower nervous system and cognitive processing
menopausae
Gibson visual cliff experiment
Visual cliff apparatus to demonstrate infants to perceive depth
results showed that infants wouldnt crawl even if they could touch it (81%)
perception is inherent, not learned
Critical or sensitive periods
periods of time in infancy and childhood where strong developmental effects occur, such as skills as language
Critical period hypothesis
theory in linguistics that suggests there is a short window to learn languages because of brain plasticity
Sensorimotor stage
0-2 years old
Object permanence
Preoperational stage
2-7 years old
Mental symbols
Pretend play
Egocentrism
Irreversibility
Animism
Begin to develop a theory of mind
Concrete operational stage
7-11 years old
Develop conservation
Reversibility obtained
Formal operational stage
11+
gain the ability to abstractly and hypothetically
Mental symbols
Connecting words to images in an imaginative way
Pretend play
recreating roles around them
Irreversibility
difficulty understanding actions can be undone
egocentrism
can’t see things from other’s perspective
theory of mind
opposite of egocentrism - understanding others feelings and opinions
Conservation
ability to realize if sandiwhc is split into 4 its still sandiwhc
Vygotsky’s socioculteral theory
poeple can attain higher levels of cognitive developmet through help from others such as adul;ts ad peers - simjilar to nurture
Lev Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development
how much children can do with the right help
Analogy
Scaffolding - support
Centration
babies focusing on only one specific characteristic and ignoring the others
Conception
sperm meeting egg + father is the one to determine the baby’s gender
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
caused when the mother drinks alcohol when pregnant - can cause intellectual disability or physical deformities
Temperament
the innate characteristics that influence how a child reacts to the world, including their emotional responses and behavior.
Schemas
mental frameworks that organize and interpret information.
Assimilation
the process of incorporating new experiences into existing schemas without changing them.
Accomidation
the process of changing existing schemas or creating new ones in response to new experiences.
Gestation
the period of development from conception to birth in humans and other mammals.
Chromosomes
X (female
Y (male)
structures within cells that contain genetic material
humans typically have 46 chromosomes.
Phonemes
the smallest units of sound in a language that can distinguish meaning.
cat - kuh, ah, tuh
Morphemes
the smallest units of meaning in a language, which can be words or parts of words.
playing - play and ing
Syntax
the set of rules that govern the structure of sentences in a language, including word order and sentence formation.
Pragmatics
knowing what to say, when to say, how to say
unwritten social rules
Authoritative parent
High warmth + High control
Authoritarian parents
High control + Low Warmth
Permissive parents
Low control + High Warmth
Uninvolved parents
Low control + Low warmth
Note 
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